The Risk of the Unexplored: The Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Risk of the Unexplored: The Lewis and Clark Expedition Lucas Wagemann Junior Division Individual Paper Student-composed words: 1,859 1

Just imagine being with your crew in the most dangerous land. You have to make many very hard decisions. You can get lost very easily in the unexplored land, but it's a good thing that you have a very good crew with you. You would also be in danger almost all the time. You are trusting many Native Americans to help guide you in the right direction, and not killing you when you get near them. You are risking everything you have when you are in the west. You can easily make the wrong choice, and end up going the wrong direction. You can possibly get killed, or fail the expedition. You are also doing all of this in moccasins. That is what Lewis and Clark had to deal with almost every day. The Corps of Discovery were the first Americans from the east that went to the West. The Corps of discovery was the group of people that went on the expedition. The Lewis and Clark expedition began on May 14, 1804. It ended on September 23, 1806. The United States was still a growing country back then. It was after the Revolutionary War when the expedition was going on. There were also many other wars going on in the world. The government wanted the United States to grow in size. They had to face many hard decisions and had many problems. They needed to develop relationships with the Native Americans, find a passageway of rivers that lead to the Pacific Ocean, and explore the West. The expedition took longer than expected. It was a very hard task at that time due to all the obstacles in their way and the materials they had. The Lewis and Clark expedition took a stand to help grow America and explore the West. 2

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States of America. Jefferson bought the land from the French. This was known as the Louisiana Purchase. He paid 15 million dollars for the land. He sent a secret note to congress to ask if he could buy the land. He bought the land because he wanted to develop relationships with the Native Americans, he wanted to expand the American fur trade, and wanted the relationships to be good relationships. Jefferson wanted to expand America. He also wanted to find a passageway of rivers that reach the Pacific Ocean. He wanted to reach Oregon territory before the French, and to make sure that the United States has land on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Many people thought the expedition was impossible. There were a lot of immigrants that came from Europe and didn't know much about exploring. They thought traveling the West was hard because it was new and unexplored land. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark stood up to explore the unexplored. They were going risk everything they had to go to the West and explore it. Lewis had to prepare for the expedition. He needed to get a lot of supplies. He got guns, mostly muskets and pistols. Each man got a musket and a pistol. Lewis bought himself a BB gun that was used to impress the Native Americans. He also had to get food and drink for the expedition. He needed 31 of the best outdoorsmen. Most of the men he got were hunters and woodsmen. He took his crew to set up a camp in St. Louis, Missouri. He wanted to see if they could survive in a camp and follow his orders. He also supervised the construction of the keelboat. 3

Meriwether Lewis was first in command. Lewis was Jefferson s first pick for the expedition. Jefferson picked Lewis first because Lewis was Jefferson s assistant. During the expedition Lewis would hunt, write in the journals, and stuffed animals. Lewis had a dog named Seaman, and he would help out when Lewis was hunting. Before the expedition Lewis and Clark were in the militia together. They were very close friends during the militia. Clark was Lewis first pick for the expedition. Clark fought in the battle of Fallen Timbers when he joined the army. William Clark was a mapmaker and he hunted during the expedition. York was Clark's black slave during the expedition. York saved Clark during a flash flood. Clark almost drowned but York pulled him out of the flood. The Native Americans loved York, because they had never seen a black person before. The Native Americans were always around him, one time they tried to rub the black off of York. He was treated like a man not a piece of property during the expedition. After the expedition York would return to face a racist world again. Sacagawea was another very important person on the expedition. She saved the expedition more than once. She served as a guide for the expedition. She was at the Mandan village when the expedition ran into her. A boat tipped over from wind gusts, and all their papers got knocked out and fell in the river. Sacagawea saved most of the papers from getting destroyed. A Native American group would have attacked the Corps, but they saw that Sacagawea was with them, so they did not attack. 4

Many of the Native Americans loved to trade with the Americans. Most of the tribes were in easy places to get to for trading. The Yankton Sioux were in a very good spot for trading. The Nez Perce were in need of guns very badly, so they were willing to give anything for guns. The Hidatsa were very active in the American fur trade. The Mandans were very friendly and also in a good spot for trading. Other Native Americans tribes were not very friendly and didn't like to trade. The Blackfoot tried to steal Lewis horses when he and his crew were sleeping. The Teton Sioux were very aggressive and had a lot of power. Lewis and Clark were ethnographers during the expedition. An ethnographer is someone who traces back on people ancestors, and they did this by asking a lot of people question about their past family. They would trace back to the Native Americans ancestors. They first tried it on the Mandans. It was very successful. So they traced back on many other Native American tribes. They built two big forts. They were Fort Mandan and Fort Clatsop. Fort Mandan was a large V shaped fort. They named it after the Mandan tribe which is also where they built it. They built it for the winter. They spent about five months at Fort Mandan. Fort Clatsop was a square shaped fort. They named the fort after a nearby Native American tribe. They built the fort on the coast of Oregon. They spent about four months at Fort Clatsop. They took a stand to develop relationships with the Native Americans, even if that meant staying with them. There were many problems during the expedition. Lewis had quite some problems. He got attacked by a bear, but luckily he hit the bear in the leg 5

while it was charging him. He got shot by a Native American while on a hunting trip. It was very possible that it was an accident because Lewis was dressed in all brown. There was a sickness that got the whole crew. Sacagawea almost died from a sickness but luckily Clark made a medicine that made her healthy. That could have jeopardized the expedition. They had boats tip over and lose a lot of supplies, and that happened multiple times. They had to face many problems with rapids and splitting rivers. They sent men to scout out the areas ahead to see which way the two rivers went. If they chose the wrong the river they could have failed the whole expedition. They wouldn't decide on which river to take until days. When they got to the Rockies, they knew what they were up against. They made trailers for their canoes to go in. It was easier to take the canoes that way instead of dragging them. It was winter when they crossed the Rockies so it was very cold in the mountains. They almost froze to death. They had to climb the Rockies in winter wearing moccasins. They almost ran out of food because you can't hunt anything in freezing temperatures. Then they almost died of starvation because of how little food they had. They took a stand to get further in the expedition and cross the Rockies. They also took a stand to prove the people that didn't believe them wrong. After they got down from the Rockies they ran into the Nez Perce. They were a very friendly Native American tribe. The Nez Perce heard about the Corps heading this way. They were in need of guns and the Corps was in need of food. So they traded and the Corps was very lucky the Nez Perce was there 6

because who knows how much farther they could have gone without food. They even lead the Corps in the direction of Oregon Territory. After the expedition was a good life for William Clark, but not such a good life for Meriwether Lewis. Lewis suffered from major depression and may have killed himself (Moulton 383). Clark was the total opposite; he got married and lived a happy life. Thomas Jefferson and people in the east didn't hear from the Corps in a while from when they left St. Louis, Missouri. Many people in the east thought the Corps of Discovery was dead. The expedition was supposed to take one year but it took two years. The people also thought they could of been captured by the Spanish, because Spanish territory was just south of the Louisiana Purchase. The United States got Oregon Territory after the expedition. People moved west after the expedition just not a lot of people. In about 1877, a huge group of people started to move west. People moved west because they knew the land was explored by Lewis and Clark. The Homestead Act helped because it gave anyone 160 acres for free out west. It also helped there were many new immigrants to this country and they saw free land out west. The more people that moved west the less Native Americans there were. The Transcontinental Railroad also helped the West grow. They built the railroad because the people knew what the land was like because Lewis and Clark explored the land. If Thomas Jefferson didn t buy the West, we wouldn't have half of the United States. If the Corps of Discovery never returned, we wouldn't know anything about the west. 7

The Lewis and Clark expedition took a stand to help grow America and explore the west. They took a stand against the people who didn't believe in them and didn't think the expedition was possible. They encountered many new things that no one even knew existed back then. They met many Native American tribes and traded with them. They were definitely prepared for the expedition. The expedition couldn't have been done without many people. It was a very risky and difficult task but the Corps of Discovery did it. 8

Primary Sources Bakeless, John. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. New York: Signet Classic, April 1964. Print. This book was good for basic information from the real Lewis and Clark journals. Devoto, Bernard. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Cambridge, MA: Riverside, 1953. Print. This book was good for extra information from the real Lewis and Clark journals. Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark. Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. New York: Antiquarian, 1904. Print. I used this book for information about preparing for the expedition. Moulton, Gary. An American Epic of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Journals. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2003. Print. This source was very good for information about when Lewis and Clark were crossing the Rockies. Setting Forth. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. University of Virginia, 4 Jan. 2007. Web. 8 Dec. 2016. <xroads.virginia.edu/hyper/journals/toc.html>. This website was good for backup information about the Lewis and Clark expedition. 9

Secondary Sources American Indians. Lewis and Clark Expedition. National Park Service, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2016. <https://www.npsgov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/indians.htm>. This book was very good to get information about Native Americans. Aviri, Patricia. The Lewis and Clark Expedition. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point, 2011. Print. I used this website to back up and clarify facts. Brincey, Amanda. Lewis and Clark. About Education. N.p. n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2016. <geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/alewisclark.htm>. This source was good to start my project and get basic information. Buckley, Jay. Lewis and Clark Expedition. Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Dec. 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016. <https://www.britannica.com/event/lewis-and-clark-expedition.>. I used this website to get into deeper facts and information. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Lewis and Clark Expedition. University of Nebraska, n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016. <lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/index.html>. This source was helpful to see the routes that Lewis and Clark took during the expedition. King, Randy. Lewis and Clark Journey Timeline 1804-1806. Video. Youtube. Google, 12 Aug. 2016. Web. 16 Nov. 2016. I used this video to see what events occurred and when they occurred. Klingel, Cynthia, and Robert Noted. Lewis and Clark. Chanhassen, MN: Child s World, 2003. Print. 10

This website was used to back up and make sure my information was right. Lang, William. Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Oregon Encyclopedia. N.p. n.d. 16 Nov. 2016. <https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lewia_andclark_expedition>. I used this website to get more information about Lewis and Clark. Introduction. The Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Pathfinder. University of North Carolina. 3 May 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016. <https://ils.unc.edu?dpr/path/lewisandclark>. This website was good to get more sources and get new facts. Lewis and Clark. Lewis and Clark. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2016. <www.biography.com/people/groups/lewis-and-clark?scrlybhr=bao572e57>. I used this source to learn about Lewis and Clark. Ronda, James. Lewis and Clark: Among the Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1984. Print. This book was used to get more information about Native Americans and back up my other sources that deal with Native Americans. Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Monticello. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2016. <https://www.monticello.org/site/familes-and-teachers/thomasjefferson-and-lewis-and-clark-expedition>. I used this website to get information about Thomas Jefferson. Timeline. Lewis and Clark s Historic Trail. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016. <lewisandclark.net/photologs.html>. This source was used to see when events occurred. 11

The Voyage of Discovery: Sacagawea. Nebraska Studies. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016. <www.nebraskastudies.org/0400/framset_rest.html?>. I used this website to learn about Sacagawea. What was Life Like for York, Clark s Black Slave During the Expedition. PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2016. <www.pbs.org/lewisandclarkliving/idx_5.html>. This source was very good to learn about York. 12